COVID-19 is continuing to put a damper on travel, particularly in international markets where lockdowns and restrictions continue to exist. In areas where the vaccine has received broad distribution, like North America and parts of Europe, we have seen an uptick in travel in the early months of summer that was soon subdued by the growing number of Delta variant cases.

As the world continues to reopen, the industry is faced with another challenge: labor shortages. In areas like the U.S., labor shortages are affecting nearly every industry, especially in services type businesses. For hospitality, a huge percentage of employees that were laid off or furloughed during the pandemic have moved on to other work. The challenge for hotels in this climate, of course, is how do you reopen with limited staff and, more importantly, maintain an appropriate quality of service?

The Good News: Hospitality Tech Can Help

Hospitality technology can support a reduced staff in two major ways: avoiding revenue drain and improving operational efficiency. As many hotels, resorts, and casinos struggle to rebuild their dining, front desk, and housekeeping workforce, they are seeking out tech solutions that can make their lean team become more efficient. For instance, by investing in ticketing and workflow management solutions, hotel management can set priority levels to service requests and keep track of request fulfillment. Enabling guests to check-in via their mobile phones can help alleviate long lines at the front desk. Having a pick-up dining option in lieu of room service can still keep a dining revenue stream open. During this turbulent time of labor shortage and the pandemic, it may be impossible for service standards not to suffer at all but the right tech can make sure the bottom doesn’t drop out.

Luxury Shouldn’t Have to Be on the Back Burner

Particularly when it comes to upscale properties, where keeping service standards is a must, using a robust hospitality tech solution, such as the INTELITY platform, can help hoteliers continue to deliver an exceptional experience. The platform is well designed to connect guests with staff elegantly and efficiently. With a limited staff, the front desk can get overworked, especially when trying to field guest inquiries and ensuring guest service requests are answered. Through a mobile app or smart-room tablet, guest requests can be automatically added into a service request, eliminating the need for staff to manually submit a ticket after receiving a guest request.

The benefits of investing in tech will last far after the end of the pandemic. From a budgeting and future planning perspective, any benefits added to workflow, ticketing, or guests' experience won’t go away once full staff returns. You may just find that you can manage effectively with slightly fewer employees than you thought, due to the operational streamlining and guest service technology . If you are hesitant about investing in new tech during this period, or not sure what tech will benefit your current staffing set up, we at INTELITY would be happy to talk through digital solutions with you. Not all tech is created equal, and we want to make sure you get exactly what your property needs.

About INTELITY

INTELITY® is the global leader in guest experience technology, uniting mobile, in-room, and operational tools into one fully-integrated hospitality platform. INTELITY's Guest Experience Management System, GEMS®, offers a full operations hub for staff to manage all back-of-house logistics. GEMS provides a suite of dedicated tools to automate and streamline daily operations, manage incremental revenue streams, report insightful business data, and aid in elevating the guest experience. INTELITY has been designated Forbes Travel Guide's "Official Guest Engagement and Staff Management Platform Provider" and is utilized in more than 70 countries across six continents. For more information on the INTELITY platform, visit www.intelity.com.